Traditional boot jacks are used to remove cowboy boots, riding boots and other tall dress boots in a multi-step process. One of the user's booted feet is used to push the boot jack down against a firm supporting surface, thereby holding it in place. The heel of the user's other booted foot is placed in a notch or recess to engage and secure the back of the boot. Typically, the notch or recess is “V”-shaped and angled above or below the horizontal to give the user additional leverage in removing the boot. The user then pulls up on the booted foot which is secured in the notch of the boot jack, while simultaneously pushing down on the boot jack with the other foot. Once the first boot is removed, the process is repeated by switching the position of the user's unbooted foot and booted foot on and in the boot jack. The prior art teaches a variety of boot jacks which provide for the removal of dress boots in this way. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,964,117; 4,135,652; 5,086,959; 5,385,279; 5,516,015; 6,132,002; and 6,702,163 all teach boot jacks using some variation or combination of this approach. U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,861 teaches an apparatus which reverses the legs which push and pull during the boot removal process.
The prior art focuses on the problem of removing cowboy boots, tall dress boots or similar leather footwear. Implicit in the foregoing prior art is that this removal will occur on a relatively clean surface, usually indoors; with a relatively clean pair of boots, usually tall leather dress boots; in a setting appropriate for comfortably going shoeless, at least for a time, after removal. After use, most boot jacks used in such settings require no cleaning, are not used to store, carry or transport the boots and may be left in a customary place or put away until needed again.
One limitation of such boot jacks is that they are poorly suited for use with wide heeled rubber boots that are worn in very dirty environments such as muck boots used in agricultural settings, mud boots or work boots used in construction and similar outdoor settings, galoshes used in sloppy wet weather settings, or snow boots used in frozen settings. Under such usages, these types of rubber boots often become caked in mud, covered in dirt, encrusted in snow and grit, splashed with concrete or other construction debris, strewn with vegetation, wet or otherwise messy to handle. Removal of such boots using conventional boot jacks poses many difficulties. Many of the devices, for instance, are wholly unfit for use in an outdoor setting, particularly on earth surfaces that are soft, wet, uneven, dirty or muddy. While well adapted for use on manmade surfaces which are dry, hard and level—such devices are typically unstable on soft, uneven or muddy ground. Further, most have an inadequate surface area to distribute and support the full weight of an adult user standing on the boot jack during use in an outdoor setting upon an earth surface. In such environments, many of the boot jacks taught by the prior art would be difficult to keep in an upright configuration, subject to being pushed into or beneath the surface of muddy or wet ground, or tipping over easily when downward force is applied.
Further, while boot jacks having “V”-shaped notches angled to the horizontal are excellent for gripping the sturdy and often narrow heels of leather dress boots, they are ill-suited for gripping the more pliable and often wider heels of softer rubber boots. A wide “U”-shaped notch having a horizontal alignment is preferable for the removal of rubber boots. Further, boot jacks which do have U-shaped notches, while preferable for removing the wider rounded heels of most rubber boots, are generally not suitable for the outdoor removal of dirty boots in messy environments. For instance, typical boot jacks provide a single notch for gripping and removing one boot at a time. After the first boot is removed, the user must step upon the exposed surface of the boot jack with the unbooted foot to push down and hold it in place, all before attempting to remove the second boot. In messy outdoor settings, this can result in the unbooted foot coming into direct contact with dirt, mud, vegetation, ice, snow, construction debris or other unwanted substances. None of the boot jacks teach a broad boot tray suitable for simultaneously placing and supporting both feet of the user into a dual-notched boot jack and allowing the removal of a pair of dirty boots while keeping the user's feet dry and clean. Further, none of the boot jacks teach all of this while the boot tray rests stably upon a variety of earth surfaces that are otherwise ill-suited for such removal, including ground that is soft, wet, uneven, dirty or muddy.
Especially lacking in the prior art is a place for the user to place and protect his unbooted foot within the boot jack after removal of the first boot which also provides a platform to push down upon during removal of the second boot. In addition, after removal of both boots, there is a need for a boot jack to double as a boot tray which can be used to carry dirty boots from place to place without the user touching the boots or any of the debris and contaminants left in the boot tray during removal. Such a boot tray should contain such debris and contaminants within its perimeter until it is cleaned out while allowing the user to lift it with a carrying handle. Additionally a boot jack tripling as a boot rack is needed in order to secure the boots during movement, cleaning and storage. In short, what is needed is a combination boot jack, boot tray and boot rack especially suited for the removal, cleaning, movement and storage of mud boots, muck boots, galoshes, snow boots, work boots and similar rubber boots worn in both indoor and outdoor conditions.